An interview with the adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Mykhailo Padalak on the Zerkalo portal, which contains many reproaches against the Belarusian democratic community, provoked an active reaction.

Are the claims of the Belarusian democrats to official Kyiv valid?

Briefly:

• The essence of the claims of Belarusians to official Kiev is that it does not sufficiently support the Belarusian democratic forces.

• War makes the situation black and white, simplifies many nuances and shades.

  Ukrainian politicians now do not like politics and ceremonies.

• Recent opinion polls in Ukraine show that attitudes toward Belarusians and Belarus have deteriorated dramatically.

  Thus, Ukrainian politicians follow public sentiment.

The telegram channel "MotolkoPomogi" has already conducted a fact-check, showed inaccuracies in the statements of the Ukrainian speaker, his claims against

.

But it seems that the problem here is deeper and hardly all rightly reduces to inaccuracies in the statements or ignorance of Podalak.

I would like to remind that the interview of the President of Ukraine

to Russian journalists on March 27 caused a heated discussion in the Belarusian independent media and social networks.

Then, let me remind you, the Ukrainian leader said that if as a result of successful negotiations on Belarusian territory the war ends, he does not care if Lukashenko gets subjectivity and feels like a master in the house again.

The reproaches addressed to both Zelensky and Podalak have something in common.

The essence of the claims of Belarusians about these statements is that Ukrainian politicians towards Belarus are too guided by the logic of Realpolitik, insufficient support for the Belarusian democratic forces.

SEE ALSO: 99% of Belarusian emigrants in Poland do not support Lukashenko, 94% - on the side of Ukraine in the war.

Survey results

From the protests of 2020 until the beginning of the war, Kyiv pursued a rather cautious policy towards Belarus.

Ukraine has not recognized Lukashenko as president, granted asylum to Belarusian political refugees, imposed personal sanctions against officials responsible for repression, and closed its airspace to Belavia.

But did not join the EU economic sanctions, continued active trade with Belarus.

Vladimir Zelensky never met with Svetlana Tikhonovskaya.

After all, he did not want to anger Lukashenka so as not to provoke him to take part in a potential Russian aggression.

After the start of the war, the pendulum of official Kyiv's policy towards Belarus swung strongly in the opposite direction.

Ukraine began to confiscate the property of Belarusian economic entities, bank deposits of Belarusians in Ukrainian banks and others.

As the war makes the situation black and white, it simplifies many nuances and shades.

Ukrainian politicians now do not like politics and ceremonies.

It should be reminded that Kyiv is quite unceremonious in criticizing politicians and the policy of Western countries (for example, Germany).

It is not surprising that now Ukrainian officials are least worried about how they look in the eyes of Belarusian democrats.

Not before.

And another important nuance.

For a long time, Alexander Lukashenko was the most popular foreign politician in Ukraine.

Sympathy for him there reached 60%.

And Ukrainian politicians could not ignore this, often turning a blind eye to the Belarusian dictatorship.

SEE ALSO: How do Ukrainians treat the people of Belarus?

The results of the poll show a radical change

Now everything has changed radically.

Recent opinion polls in Ukraine show that 22% of Ukrainians have a positive attitude to the people of Belarus, 7% to Belarus as a country, and 3% to Lukashenko.

So Ukrainian politicians are following public sentiment.

Such is the logic of the functioning of a democratic society.

Opinions expressed in blogs convey the views of the authors themselves and do not necessarily reflect the position of the editors.

• Valery Karbalevich

  Born in 1955.

  He graduated from the History Department of the Belarusian State University, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor.

  Political commentator for Radio Svaboda.

  
  
  

  karbalevich@gmail.com

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